Franklin McMahon hosts the popular Media Artist Secrets podcasts. While you’re there, sign up at iTunes to get the last 6 or so episodes. For an easier way to see the extensive list of what he’s done so far, go to Odeo.

Review of Media Artist Secrets: Quitting Your Day Job

Episode 9 is a short, 12 minute podcast touching on quitting your day job, turning away work, taking on cheap jobs and immersing yourself in your craft.

My main interest in this podcast is Franklin’s good job, bad job tips.

• How to judge if you are ready to leave your day job.
• How to figure out if it’s the best time to go.
• Do you start your own company, or work for someone else.

Good jobs, bad jobs

Good jobs: These are where you’re learning and gaining experience. And not just about the creative end. Even if you don’t intend on running your own company, learning how to deal with staff, vendors and clients is just as valuable as becoming a better designer.

It’s similar to advice given in the first Podcast Humpday, where James Archer described how he gained the necessary skills to strike out on his own by working for others. It was the acquired experience that gave him the confidence to launch Forty Media.

Bad jobs: These are where you are just putting in time. Where you are not adding value. You clock in, then clock out again.

You be the judge

What’s your legacy?: One way to tell if you are in a good or bad job is the legacy you leave. If you left today, would your place of employment be any different than before you started? Ask yourself, did you implement anything new? If not, then you’re just putting in the hours.

If you are a clock watcher, Franklin’s suggestion is to leave. Reason? Because it’s not beneficial to either.

It’s excellent advice. And pretty rough.

And in most circumstances I agree. Not moving forward is a career killer.

But for some out there, it’s not always practical. Take those who are unable to start their own business due to heavy financial responsibility (young family to support, years of student loans to pay off, huge mortgage). Or maybe they are just not suited to running their own business (for whatever reason). Tie that in with the lack of choice when it comes to a slightly less, equal, or better paying job. Ouch.

In those circumstances it’d be a tough decision to make. Either to stay, or go. But it all has to be taken under consideration when taking a leap. To wherever. If the decision is to stay, perhaps evaluate why the clock watcher, and why not the instigator. And what you can do about it before your creative juices dry up and fly away.

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For the sequel, listen to Episode 10 – Quitting Your Day Job.

Until the next
Podcast Humpday,
cat

Welcome to BoDo’s first Podcast Humpday.

Midweek, on Wednesdays (hence the hump in Humpday), I’ll review podcasts on the business of design, running a business, pretty much anything to do with BoDo’s subject matter. Later on there will be a mix - BoDo podcasts, as well as those we feel are a ‘must hear’.

If you are a podcaster, contact me as I’d love to hear from you.

Now on to our first Podcast Humpday …

James, the internal entrepreneur, goes external.

You won’t find distractions on Sean Tierney’s (Grid7 Venturecast) interview with James Archer. What you will find is roughly 45 minutes of pure business talk. A near-on 45 minutes of James. Delivered, as promised.

The subject of this podcast is entrepreneur and owner of Forty Media, a web design, web development, award winning branding agency in Arizona, USA. Confident of their services, Forty Media invites visitors to shop around at their competition. Rare. I’m impressed.

An incomplete synopsis of the podcast (only enough to tantalize) is how James slide into web design via technical writing. How he moved into project management, where he learned how to work with clients, proposals, designers, etc. It goes on to tell how James reached a point where his fear of going out on his own and failing, was less than his fear of never doing it.

The conversation flows well, with tips business of design start-ups should pay special attention to - the kind of information seasoned business owners know well.

Listening to the podcast, I thought about the domain name been-there-done-that.com (btw - it’s taken) as that’s exactly what we’ll be doing here on BoDo. Bringing in advice from those like James, who have been there, done that.

Advice from James:

The creative side and working with clients are just a portion of your business … there is a lot of stuff you don’t want to learn, but you’ve just gotta learn … you have to do it because it’s what keeps your business operational.

The key to surviving in a small business is willing to take those hits, learn from them, and move on.

Lessons learned:

The value of a good contract and writing good proposals (as you never know where things are going to go).

A contract doesn’t do you a whole lot of good without guiding the client in what’s going to happen. Write contracts to allow flexibility, yet with clear guidelines.

What qualifies as an entrepreneur:

… the willingness to learn and change quickly … the ability to come in, see a situation, decide you want to do and conquer it … decide what you want to get done and just get it done … even if it’s not pleasant, do it anyway.

Elevator pitch:

40 media is a solid Branding and Creative firm. We understand how to get inside your customer’s head without being detached from the technical side.

An interesting and well-done podcast, it continues on with communication tools, modern compared to pre-google systems, project management applications, zoho creator, notepad, productivity, GTD, 37signals, Fruitcast, podcasts, 9rules, Arizona, the start up mentality, doing something different, bad clients, bad contractors, Refresh Phoenix and making a difference.

James Archer’s parting comment:

Get good at what you want to do and do it. No looking back.

Until the next
Podcast Humpday,
cat